no other place i could be (but here in your arms)
by birdbox
Summary: Five times Emma and Killian do and do not kiss after the finale


**i.**

She kisses him goodnight later at Granny's.

She and Henry have decided to spend the night in her parents' apartment to properly catch up and spend some time with the new arrival, even though baby Neal has already been asleep for hours when the party dies down and people start leaving. Emma is fairly exhausted by the time they start making moves to leave, from her tiring and unexpectedly emotional jaunt in the past to the… complications of bringing Marian to the future—she knows she'll sleep like a log tonight.

"I'd best turn in too," Killian says, leaving his empty pint glass on the counter. "Goodnight all."

He says it to everyone but directs it at her, a secret soft look passing between them, unbeknownst to her parents and Henry. Emma allows herself a restrained smile in the face of the rush that goes through her, feeling like a teenager with a crush. He returns it, winking at her, before turning and walking to the door that led to the upstairs rooms.

Emma watches him leave, half wanting to follow him.

"Emma?" her mother says, bringing her attention back to the situation at hand. Namely her parents, brother and son ready to leave and all but one of them staring at her in her reverie.

"Um- you guys go on and I'll catch up with you in a second." Her father gives her a questioning look. "There's just one thing I've gotta do first."

After they leave, Emma half-jogs after Killian. He's half way down the hall, about to ascend the stairs when she catches up to him. Emma taps him on the shoulder and before he has a chance to react, she grabs his lapels, pulls him close briefly before pushing him against the wall. The last thing she sees before she kisses him is his smile, amused and elated all at once.

Emma pulls away first because one thing is going to lead to another if she doesn't (his bedroom is so close) and her parents and Henry are expecting her. "Goodnight," she finally whispers.

Unable to resist temptation, Emma kisses his lips once more before pulling away. The look on his face is almost identical to the one the past version of himself had when he saw for the first time. Emma grins at him, running her tongue along her front teeth playfully.

She walks backwards to the door, only breaking eye contact at the last second.

**ii.**

Killian doesn't kiss her when he sees her the next morning.

He wants to, by the Gods, he wants to. He wants to be sure he didn't dream yesterday up, but when he gets into the diner she's sitting with Henry, her parents and the young prince. He's not sure if she's said anything to them about… well, them (doesn't want to assume anything given what happened last time he did). But honestly, he's so awed that there might actually be a them now that he'll settle for anything she wants to give him.

He wishes he could tamp down the stupid smile he knows is forming over his face when they meet eyes because he's entirely sure he looks ludicrous but he's mollified by the fact that Emma seems to be having the same trouble.

**iii.**

She kisses him the next day though.

In front of her parents. She doesn't exactly intend for them to see per se, but they see anyway and it's as good a way as any to let them know of their new… relationship status—Emma's never been a fan of the sit-down talks about things going on in her life and she wants them to know without having to tell them. Although somewhat embarrassing in the moment, honestly it's probably for the best.

Emma's pretty sure they're somewhat suspicious anyway because although she and Killian have been practically inseparable (if if they're usually in her parents company) since they got back from the Enchanted Forest. Not that they didn't spend a lot of time together before hunting the Wicked Witch but they're not stupid—there's a change in the atmosphere and it's not just the unseasonably cold weather that's creeping in on them.

They're all just about to head into the loft for lunch when Killian stops outside. "Swan, I'll back in an hour or two—I just want to check in with Smee and the others. Haven't seen them around in a while."

"You not hungry?" Emma asks.

He shakes his head. "Not particularly. And if I am, I'll use some of this charming currency you gave me to get something from Granny." He pulls a twenty-dollar bill out of his coat pocket and squints at the cross-hatch portrait of Andrew Jackson. Emma rolls her eyes. "Mr Smee tells me the 'frozen yoghurt' is to die for."

"Okay. So I'll- see you later then, I guess?" It comes out sounding more like a question than Emma intends. This is all new to her, having someone around that might stick around.

Killian smiles. He seems to know she needs reassurance even on this. "Yes. Yes, you will."

Emma wants to kiss him but another thing she's new at is the whole casual intimacy thing. After a couple of seconds of mutual want and with the realisation that he is almost definitely new at it too, Emma takes the plunge and steps up to him so their torsos almost touch. "Goodbye then," she says, looking up into his eyes.

She couldn't tell you who moved first but their lips meet in the middle and his arm inches her closer (not close enough) and she had been so sure her parents had already gone upstairs with her brother but a cough from behind them breaks them apart like a pair of teenagers.

Unsurprisingly given the look on her father's face, Killian leaves pretty promptly after that but chances his luck to press another kiss to her mouth. Emma grins, unable to stop herself, and watches him leave.

"Something you wanna tell us?" her mom says, drawing her attention back from Killian's (rather swiftly) retreating figure. She doesn't look particularly surprised or judgmental, more amused.

Emma shrugs uncomfortably under the combined weight of their gaze. "We're… I don't know. We're kinda—taking things slow. I-I like him."

It sounds so puny and immature when she says the words out loud and absolutely doesn't help with the whole feeling-like-a-teenager-again thing, admitting this to her parents of all people. Her father just sighs, resigned. "What?" Emma asks, surprised. "You're not gonna give him the 'stay away from my daughter on pain of death' daddy bear speech?"

"Didn't work the last time. It seems he cannot be stopped." She and her mother look at him in joint confusion. He clarifies, "Neverland."

After brief reflection, Emma decides not to open that can of worms. She walks over to him and links his arm as they walk up the stairs. "A little birdy told me Prince Charming actually liked Prince Charles back in the Enchanted Forest," Emma teases.

"You'll never get me to admit it," her dad grumbles.

**iv.**

It's night time when Killian kisses her next.

Henry is with Regina tonight -he knows Emma is scared to be around the Evil Queen for extended periods of time because of who their extra passenger turned out to be and spends far too much time trying to convince herself she's somehow a evil person for saving an innocent woman's life and reuniting said woman with her husband and child as much as Killian and her family try to tell her otherwise.

But right now, none of that matters.

Emma is standing in front of him, eyes locked with his. She pulls the tie out of her hair and shakes it out over her shoulders. Killian shrugs off his long jacket and folds it over the back of the chair in his rented room then fixes his eyes back on her. It continues like this for a while, each removing one item of clothing each until Emma is down to her slacks and vest top and Killian is in his thin cotton shirt and trousers.

Then, Killian catches his hook in her belt loop and pulls her lightly forward, dropping his lips to hers. His hand finds the perfect slope of her jaw, angling it upwards so he can slant his mouth against hers. Emma's hands trail down the sides of his body slowly, pulling his shirt out of his trousers and tossing it over his head so quickly their lips barely part in between.

Emma undoes the front of her own trousers and pushes them down her legs, now covered only by a vest and her smallclothes. The furious, staccato rhythm of his heart in the low light is match only by hers. Emma pulls up his arm, well his hook really. Her fingers traces around the edge of the brace where it met the skin of his arm. "Are you going to take this off?" she asks softly.

In his head, the hook was going to go (for obvious reasons)… not the brace though. Not for their first time. It's irrational really; she's seen him without both that time in the hospital but this is inescapably different. He's adaptable but as much as he's gotten used to his situation, there's a background fear he can't force down when his wrist is bare. It makes him feel much more vulnerable, a feeling exacerbated by Emma's presence. Women have been repulsed by it in the past, the empty wrist and his… incompleteness. He could barely blame them.

Emma speaks up again. "You can keep the brace on if it makes you feel more comfortable, but if your reason for keeping it on is that you think it's going to bother me then you're keeping it on for the wrong reason." Killian looks at her. She puts her hand on the brace lightly, touching the studs in the leather. "It's part of you. I want you. All of you."

He can't doubt the sincerity in her eyes. Holding her gaze, he eases the brace off his arm.

**v.**

They don't kiss the next morning, lying in bed together with the early morning sun filtering in through the window. Killian commits to his memory the way her face looks first thing in the morning after making love. Emma feels warm and so, so loved in his arms.

They don't kiss.

They don't have to.


End file.
